World Space Week returns this year, from 4-10 October. This year’s theme is ‘Rocket Revolution,’ exploring the speed at which our means of exploring space is changing. That means more rocket launches, more countries and – before long – more astronauts.
So far, Britain has produced three career astronauts: Helen Sharman, Tim Peake and Dr Rosemary Coogan, who beat more than 22,500 applicants to win her place with the European Space Agency and is now waiting on her first mission to the International Space Station.
Britain’s children, however, are pretty confident they’ll be joining Dr Coogan up there. Research by tech education group RM Technology, published in May 2024, found that 57% of children aged four to seven believe they will travel to space in their lifetime.
Maybe you’re reading this with scepticism. After all, for the vast majority of adults, space might be a daydream rather than a career. But that doesn’t mean it’s time to shoot down your child’s dreams of being an astronaut.
The qualities ESA screened Coogan for – spatial awareness, memory, teamwork and physical control – are the same qualities that children build at breaktime, without a single adult telling them what to do. So why not let them dream?
Spinning on roundabouts: Coping with disorientation
Every playground has at least one child who wants the roundabout spun faster, then staggers off giggling and immediately gets back on. That might seem like simple mischief, but it’s actually the vestibular system asking to be trained.
The vestibular system sits in the inner ear and tells the brain which way is up. Children develop their vestibular system by deliberately confusing it, then recovering. Every wobble or spin teaches the brain to reconcile what the eyes are seeing with what the body is feeling.
Astronauts spend a lot of time doing a (far more expensive) version of exactly that. Centrifuge runs and parabolic flights exist because spaceflight scrambles your sense of up and down, and crews have to keep working through it.
Climbing frames and towers: Spacewalking
Climbing is the closest a playground gets to mimicking the conditions outside of a space vessel. Watch children use a climbing frame for the first time and you’ll see them keep three points of contact almost instinctively, testing each hold before committing weight to it.
Spacewalk training is built on the same principle. Astronauts train underwater for hours, planning every move before it needs to be made, testing their capability to execute before they actually have to do it.
Meanwhile, regular play will help your child build grip strength, core stability and discipline, while encouraging them to get used to working at uncomfortable heights. Taller towers ask children to manage a bit of fear and carry on making sensible decisions anyway. That kind of safe risk-taking needs to be encouraged at an early age, helping children build the skills that will eventually develop into those of an astronaut.
Tunnels, dens and low crawls: Working in tight spaces
Tunnels and dens do a lot of developmental work, too. Crawling through an enclosed space forces children to build a mental map that they can’t see. They have to judge whether their shoulders will fit, remember which way they came in, and stay calm when it’s dark and there’s someone behind them. That’s spatial memory and self-regulation working together.
The European Space Agency (ESA) teaches many of the same principles – their CAVES (Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behaviour and performance Skills) course sends astronauts underground as part of their training.
Caving is used as astronaut training because it replicates confinement, poor visibility and the need to think clearly in an awkward space. Your child is doing the beginner module every lunchtime.
Aerial runways: Managing speed you can’t control
An aerial runway or zipline teaches children something quite specific: what to do when you’ve committed and the outcome is now partly out of your hands.
Children have to judge the run-up, hold on properly, ride the acceleration and then manage the landing. There’s a moment in the middle where they’re a passenger, and learning to stay relaxed through that instead of tensing up is a real physical skill.
When launching a ship, astronauts have essentially zero control, and are forced to endure around 3G on ascent. Crews are selected partly on how well they function when they’re not in control. Okay, so the playground version has a soft, safe landing and any crash-landing is going to be much lower-stakes – but this mental resilience is something that is actively valued in the next generation of astronauts.
Seesaws and movers: Crew work
One of the main benefits of outdoor play is that children get to experience a range of social experiences and settings – all of which teach them how to interact with others. A seesaw is a clear example of that: it only works if two children cooperate, communicate, match each other’s effort and timing, and agree when to stop.
Good teamwork is beneficial in any job. But it’s even more prudent for astronauts for a range of reasons – the risk factors, the fact that the team exists in a closed eco-system and more. There’s a reason the ESA’s selection process includes extensive, formal teamwork analysis.
The technical skills can be trained. Being someone that others can work with is much harder to install later, and it starts on a seesaw at about age four. So, the next time a child says they want to be an astronaut, it might be worth taking them seriously. The training programme is already running, five days a week – and it finishes at about 3:30!
Author: Barry Leahey MBE, Play Expert and President of Playdale Playgrounds.
Learn more: https://www.playdale.co.uk/
Click here for more aerospace news: Military, Aerospace & Defence Archives – Design Solutions
